Losing My Voice

In the literal sense of the phrase, I lost my voice yesterday. Days of having a dry, itchy, sore throat should have served as a flashing red light, but often with flashing red lights, we ignore them and speed some more. Obviously yours truly will not be the best teacher for your teenage kids' driving lessons. But that's beside the point. It is a funny realisation that I stretch myself out more when I am on holidays, doing 18-hour days and mostly running around like there is no tomorrow, each waking moment being so precious that you don't want spending those in sleeping and dreaming away.

Anyway, waking up and having the sound coming out from the throat reduced to a mere croak is not the best thing. According to my friend, to me it's like being stripped away of my clothes. Ayayayyy! Someone above is telling me to keep the talk minimal for once, and reflect... maybe. Since I failed to listen at first, he did it by force... boo-hoo-hoo! See, one of my many quirks is that as much as possible, I avoid taking any medicines - the unnatural stuff (e.g. no mefenemic acid for cramps, better endure it and hug a hot water bottle). Quite ironic because what remains natural in the food we take and the environment we live in anyway? Well well well... traditional, ancient remedies I am more inclined to take, still with hesitation because they taste like crap. Anyone who has heard of the watermelon frost would agree that this bitter-tasting powder is not the most pleasant thing to have in your mouth (or throat!), but it works by soothing and cooling down the affected area. I've had it sprayed on my throat three times a day. If not mistaken, this frost can also be applied to mouth ulcers. The elders in the family would also recommend the drinking of chrysanthemum tea, said to prevent the sore throat progressing into something worse - e.g. fever. A very cooling remedy, I must say... better taken with a bit of honey or rock sugar though. In eastern medicine, there is a concept of "too much heat" in the body (shush!! y'all dirty minds). And there are food which are considered "heaty" such as fried food, and these are to be avoided. I digress from my topic, but what the heck...

Not being able to speak or properly express one's thoughts is probably one of the most excruciating and frustrating thing ever. A bottle waiting to pop. I've got it back, albeit still rough on the edges. What a blessing it is to have a voice!